Scientists boost instant coffee supplies?

Traditionally, sources of instant coffee are made from Robusta (Coffea canephora​) crops, but this variety suffers from 'self-incompatibility', which means it can not pollinate itself.

Coffee farmers have to grow it in mixed plantings so that cross-pollination can take place.

But the growers have the dilemma of deciding the varieties to cross.

Speaking this week at the Society for Experimental Biology annual meeting in Barcelona, a UK researcher suggests he has overcome the problem, by developing molecular markers which can identify self-incompatibility genotypes to improve breeding strategies.

In addition, say the scientists, the high genetic diversity of Robusta offers the potential of increasing the resistance to diseases and environmental changes, improving the quality of our future brew. In collaboration with the Ugandan Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Sylvester Tumusiime and colleagues at the University of Nottingham investigated the possible involvement of a group of proteins called ribonucleases (RNA-degrading enzymes) in the self-incompatibility (S) mechanism.

Several distinct ribonuclease patterns have been identified in female reproductive tissues.

As plants with the same S-genotype cannot fertilise each other, research is focused on identifying different S-genotypes which will help farmers to choose the best mixture of varieties to grow and will also facilitate future cross-breeding.

Unlike Robusta, mainly used for instant coffee, the higher value Arabica crop, favoured for filter coffee, is self-compatible and therefore easier to cultivate and maintain as breeding material.

This technique is currently used for temperate fruit crops such as almonds and cherries but has never been used for coffee breeding purposes.

Expectations of a fall in global coffee supplies is expected to keep up pressure on market prices, with fresh figures indicating world coffee production will drop in 2005/06.

Forecasts from the US department of agriculture pitch production for the period at 113.1 million bags (60 kilograms), down about 6 per cent, or 6.7 million bags on the previous year.

Most of the decrease is attributed to the drop in Brazil's 2005/06 coffee production level to 36.5 million bags, a 14 per cent fall on 2004/05.

Prices for coffee are recovering after a sharp decline in the past five years that saw the market plunging into a crisis forced by oversupply and low prices.

Filtering down to the consumer, in recent months beverage makers have hiked up their prices. At the end of last year Kraft Foods said it would raise the price of a 13-ounce jar of Maxwell House instant coffee by 14 per cent to $2.29, in response to a surge in the price of coffee beans.

The firm's announcement comes on the heels of a 14 per cent increase in ground coffee prices in early December by Folgers, a division of Proctor & Gamble. In October, Starbucks Coffee raised its retail prices by around 5 per cent.